Be Near Me
by Andiefan
Summary: A simple story about one of the unexplored couples on the Creek. Dawson Leery and Andie McPhee.


**Be Near Me**

**1/1**

**By Andiefan**

Disclaimer: I have no connection to nor to I hereby make any claims of ownership of characters from Dawson's Creek

Rating PG

Category: Dawson/Andie McPhee

Background: Andie McPhee has just returned home from her trip to Italy. What happens in Capeside just before Graduation?

_centerIThe message is perfectly simple_

_The meaning is clear_

_Don't ever stray too far_

_And don't disappear_

_Ever had the feeling_

_Almost broke in two_

_Never had that feeling like you do, you do?_

__

_All my dreams came true last night_

_All my hopes and fears_

_All my dreams came true once more_

_In tears in tears_

__

_Be near me_

_Be near, be near_

__

_Never had that feeling, until I first met you,_

_Never felt like kneeling,_

_Now I do, yes I do_

__

_All my dreams came true last night_

_All my hopes and fears_

_All my dreams came true once more_

_In tears in tears_

__

_Be near me_

_Be near, be near_

_Be near me, be near_

__

_The message is perfectly simple_

_The meaning is clear_

_Don't ever stray too far_

_And don't disappear_

_Be near me_

_Be near, be near_

_Be near me, be near_

__

_What's your reputation?_

_Ecstasy (yeah)_

_Be near me_

_What's your destination?_

_Next to me (yeah)_

_Be near me_

-Be Near Me: ABC/I/center

He felt drained. Drained and empty and too lonely. The sun was blazing in a deep golden colour, making the tranquil waves of the creek sparkle and the light bounce off the water to his shoes, which he watched in apathy.

There was something to the air... Something he hadn't taken the time to smell since childhood. It was that special smell, the scent of summer, the promise of long, lazy days and warm sunshine. He sighed, a couple of years ago summer had seemed like paradise, the days had been never ending; the whole thing had been magical. Now, it was just one long, drawn out time of waiting. Waiting to go to college, waiting to leave Capeside...being with Andie.

He didn't really remember when he'd stopped wanting to cling to the past and to reach for the future. Maybe it was when he met Andie, or when he left home. Maybe it just happened gradually, a combination of time and events... It was strange thinking of things that way. In the movies things had always changed with one single event, he'd never expected this constant going back and forth, deciding and changing your mind, saying one thing – the right thing – but feeling something entirely different... It was exhausting, draining – awful.

He turned as someone walked quietly out onto the dock, finally stopping beside him to sit down.

He looked at her for a moment, slightly shocked.

"Andie?" he stared at her, taking in her appearance.

Her fragile skin had grown a deeper golden brown than while in Italy, and there were small freckles on her face. Her blonde hair was dyed into a deep, red-brown colour that flowed past her shoulders. Her eyes shone as she smiled at him – silent, happy, calm.

"Hi," she grinned letting her legs dangle as they sat on the edge of the dock.

"Wow," he murmured. "Your hair..."

She blushed.

"Yeah well..." she replied airily. "It was time for a change."

She turned to him.

"How you doing?"

"I, uh..." he tore his gaze from her and shrugged. "I sort of want to be alone. It's a 'collect my thoughts' kind of thing, I---"

"Sorry," she interrupted him.

She smiled slightly at the frown crossing his face, and linked her arm with his.

"No point in sulking, Dawson," she told him in a soft, calm voice. "I'm staying."

"See, I need to tell you a little story," she smiled and not waiting for his reply, she continued, "See, I was in Italy, having the time of my life with you, when I realized that graduation was right around the corner. I just couldn't miss it, now could I? And I missed Jack, a lot. And to tell you the truth, I thought you would be a complete jerk after I left you... and I was scared Dawson, scared of these feelings I had for you. So, I packed my bags, took the first flight home. And, well, here I am. And as I was dumping my bags at home – where no one was at, by the way, which made the whole 'surprise, I'm home for graduation early' thing really, really wasted.

"I got up this morning – I thought to myself: 'whom do I want to go and pester first?' Well, I considered Pacey, but Jack's been keeping me updated on him and Joey being all broken hearted and moping still, so I though that would sort of be yuck, for me, not for them. Anyway – there was always Jen or Dawson. But then it hit me – Dawson! I'd go see you first. See, I've been thinking," she paused and took a breath, finding that he was listening intently to her. "We're going to go off to college soon. And let's face it: Jo and Pace will be humping their respective brains out, or be too busy with their mini-drama of the week to care about either of us. Jen will probably be going through her artistic depression while hanging out at strange clubs with people named Harmony and Slender and crap like that while Jack is bound to score sooner or later and that only leaves you."

"Gee, thanks," Dawson muttered.

"Oh, stop," Andie, grinned. "I didn't mean it like that! Anyway, I figured we should hang out together since you're here and not over at Grams' place."

"Really?" Dawson raised his eyebrows at her. "So we really are boyfriend and girlfriend?"

_centerIAll my dreams came true last night_

_All my hopes and fears/I/center_

"Yeah," she nodded gravely. "I mean, we're both smart, intellectual and ambitious people. We get along; we're honest with each other. We're going to be all brand new in a big city. And we're both going to be in need of someone to go out for coffee with, and study with. And... Well – I'm really lonely."

He glanced at her, and gone was the perky smile she'd been wearing, gone was the 'no nonsense' attitude she'd tried to pull on him. She was watching him intently, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, clutching something blue. He knew what had been left unspoken was true; love had bought her back to him.

"I, um, brought your gift," she told him and held out the blue object. "I bought it in Venice." He took the small gift and unwrapped it, surprised as he found himself staring down at a tiny painting of a meadow, basking in moonlight and showered with white flowers. There was a moon in the corner, glowing brightly against a dark blue, velvety sky. There was a mist over the meadow, and he could almost see the grass moving in the wind, feel the scent of the flowers... It was so real that it seemed eerie.

"It's beautiful," he told her, meaning it.

"It's not too... well, too girly?" she asked, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. "I saw it, and I loved it. But you're a guy and all; you might not like-it"

"Andie," he interrupted her, laughing now. "I love it."

She nodded and smiled, glowing yet again.

"You know," he continued to watch the small painting as he spoke. "We should hang out more. I think it's a great idea."

She met his eyes and smiled again. He reached out and brushed some hair from her face, keeping his fingers on the silky strands for a while.

"And the hair looks great too," he added.

They sat in complete silence, watching the sun edge closer and closer to the horizon. It was serene, perfect. Clouds moved over the sky, swirling, fast and furious against the dimming blue.

"There are winds up there," she spoke. "Hard, fast" She smiled.

"My mom told me a story once," she continued. "It was about a woman who searched everywhere for someone to love, and she couldn't find happiness anywhere. Then, finally, when she was old, she found the love of her life. It was a boy from the village where she'd grown up, she'd never known that he could have been that close. They'd barely even spoken to each other, ever. He'd married someone else after the woman left town to search for love, but his wife was dead now... They fell in love, and vowed to always be together. But the woman died just shortly after, before they'd even gotten married. So the man went to the gods and asked them to reunite him with his love, and the gods agreed. But they would only do it if the man promised that he and his love would spend the rest of their lives keeping the clouds from the sky so that it would always be sunny and bright..."

"Selfish gods," Dawson grinned.

"Very," Andie agreed. "So, the man agreed. But the gods had tricked him. They turned him into the wind, and his love into the clouds... But it backfired on the gods, of course, because the man and the woman spent eternity making love up in the skies. The wind and the cloud, forever dancing."

"That's a much better story than the ones we got told in biology," Dawson told her honestly and she grinned.

He looked up at the sky.

"So, I guess those two lovers are really going at it now, huh?" he wondered with a sly smile, nodding his head at the swirling clouds.

She laughed.

"Yeah, I guess they are."

"My mom never told me stories," Dawson confessed.

"Really?" Andie seemed surprised. "You seem to have the perfect parents, I was so sure they'd read you at least three every night until you turned fourteen."

"Nope," he shook his head. "Mom always worked late, dad always worked late too. Then she got home, and they never seemed to have time for me, except to have loud sex in the room next to mine."

"Ew," she wrinkled her nose delicately and he laughed.

"That's why I got into film," he explained. "They'd buy every video for me, and I'd choose one every night. It was so amazing, the sense of drama coming to life like that... I used to go to bed dreaming about writing and directing my own film."

"Look," Andie pointed to the horizon, at the pink glow gathering there as the sun began to dip behind it.

"You want to go inside and have some dinner?" he asked her.

"In a minute or so," she nodded, her hand resting on his arm gently as she watched the sunset.

He looked over at her, her hair looking like fire in the setting sun. Her skin became golden and dark, shadows dancing over her face. She turned to him, her calm, grey-blue eyes taking him in. She smiled and took his hand.

"I'm going to remember this sunset forever, you know," she told him in a soft voice that seemed to flow over the silence.

"Thank you."

"For what?" he wondered, surprised at how breathless he sounded.

"I've spent so long away from here," she explained. "I've spent months travelling Italy, but now, right here – is the first time I've felt alive in years."

The smell of summer seemed to explode around them, sweetly, breezily – a scent that carried hundreds of memories.

"Greenhouses," she whispered and he nodded. "It would rain, and then the sun would shine and everything would smell like a large, warm greenhouse. Like the rainforest."

"I love that smell," he agreed. "The smell of wet earth and soaked trees and bushes."

She smiled, bringing her slender fingers to his neck, touching the necklace hanging there.

"It reminds you of me, and when we first met," she commented.

"Everything does," he replied.

"Give it to me?"

There was a tentative tone to her voice, but he nodded, smiling, and reached up, removing the necklace from around his neck and putting it around hers.

A cloud of tiny butterflies lifted from the ground and flew up, up over the treetops and into the sun. The birds fell silent, giving into the chirping of crickets and the distant humming of bees.

Her fingers closed around the necklace, and she continued to watch the sunset, taking deep breaths.

"I wish there was a perfume that smelled like early summer evenings," she told him in a hushed voice, leaning in and resting her head on his shoulder. "I'd wear it every day. All the time."

One of her hands fell to her lap, resting limply as the last hot rays of sunlight licked them. The shadows crept around them, making the water look darker. It was glowing now, reflecting the brilliant colours of the sunset.

He watched her as she nestled closer to him. She was so tiny. He remembered holding Jen while they danced at school a couple of years ago, and she was shorter than Andie – but she'd never felt so tiny. She seemed battered by time and life, and he marvelled at the fact that she still had enough trust in people to sit here with her head on his shoulder and watch the sunset.

The clouds were getting thicker above them. The wind made the trees murmur. The air began to feel chilly. The scent of flowers clung to it though, sweet and intoxicating. Or maybe it was her hair... The way it fell down over his chest in a shimmering wave.

She was breathing slowly, warmth seeping from her skin.

He took her hand, his other one clutching the small painting. Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.

centerIWhat's your reputation?

Ecstasy (yeah)

Be near me

What's your destination?

Next to me (yeah)

Be near me/I/center

8


End file.
